As DNAinfo first reported yesterday, the Strand installed an outdoor sprinkler system to drive away homeless people sleeping under their red awning along East 12th Street, according to employees. (Management had said the sprinklers were there to clean off the sidewalk.)
The incident prompted Strand employee Greg Farrell to draw a comic based on his firsthand experience of the situation.
The comic is posted at the blog "Strand Ask Us," a nine-part account of the labor struggle that took place between the workers and management at the bookstore in the spring of 2012. (A book on this is due next year from Microcosm publishing.)
Farrell said that the sprinklers were installed this past summer. "So, in fairness, there was no risk of anybody freezing to death at the time."
Updated 2:17
At Vanishing New York, Jeremiah Moss discusses the sprinkler situation ...:
So many of the corporations in the city do horrible, inhumane things every day, on a much larger, often global scale, than spraying water on the homeless. Boycott the businesses that rely on sweatshop and child labor. Boycott the businesses that commit horrifying daily acts of animal cruelty. Boycott the businesses that deliberately destroy the fabric of our communities--and our environment. Do not boycott the Strand. To attack the Strand and not Apple, Amazon, The Gap, and others like them, is a gross misplacement of anger and energy.
43 comments:
So instead of being thankful that The Strand has stayed in business and that they get to KEEP THEIR JOBS... some of the employees try to force higher wages upon The Strand and when they don't get their way... they take pot shots at them.
Has anybody noticed the book industry has undergone a few changes? MANY bookstores (and jobs) have dissappeared? Do you think attacking your employer will HELP YOU?????
The idiocy is amazing.
SHIT on the sidewalk does NOT increase sales. Homeless people hanging around DECREASES traffic to a store, which DECREASES the amount of money available to pay employees.
I suggest the Strand employees be careful. The owners do not need the money. At some point they just might say "fuck it"... and they'll shut the place down. Then you'll all be out of your jobs.
In the meantime, if you really hate them and your jobs.. QUIT THEM NOW.
Eddie Sutton has sold-out. Why do this now? They were always homeless there. It's because he has partnered with Club Monaco and would like to have that vapid, attractive, superficial, image associated with that clothing brand. Not to mention the neighborhood has become shallow and filled with pseudo-intellectual hipsters who use books in their perfunctory existence to pick-up girls or boys.
I don't see anything in this cartoon that suggests the workers at the Strand are agitating for higher wages, but if they are: Good for them!
I'm not happy with the Strand-bashing that has come of this. They did something cruel and stupid. They're also one of our last, oldest, and greatest independent bookstores.
When I first saw the sprinklers, I took photos of them in action, but never posted them because I did not want the Strand to be the object of the online shitshow now ensuing.
As far as people freezing, there is just no way. The sprinklers were installed in June and the homeless never returned. They got wet, and that sucks, but there's no freezing in summertime.
Would some of you criticize Strand if they removed their store's awning? Maybe every business in the East Village should be forced to install a "shelter awning" for the homeless. Seriously it is not any private company's obligation to shelter anyone. Critics should focus their concern towards the city government instead of a bookstore but I guess that's too much effort when you can bitch here so easily and then feel good about your pious asses.
Homeless people in NYC have a right to shelter - not something afforded elsewhere. Nobody is at risk of freezing to death on the street unless they choose to live on the street. And this is very much a choice because by law nobody can be turned away (unless they do something to get kicked out like refuse housing or set fire to something).
"When I first saw the sprinklers, I took photos of them in action, but never posted them because I did not want the Strand to be the object of the online shitshow now ensuing."
J,
sounds like you knew in your heart that their solution to this problem was wrong.
-B
"Nobody is at risk of freezing to death on the street unless they choose to live on the street. And this is very much a choice because by law nobody can be turned away."
Wow. Really? You think this is true in a practical sense? Legally, yes...obviously you didn't read the New York mag article about homelessness and why some people 'choose' to live on the street.
One other thing: does Greg Farrell still have a job at the Strand? Because anyplace I've worked, this would get your ass fired. Not saying it should, but it would.
The Strand employees should not have to provide concierge wake-up service to the homeless each day in order to open their business. They probably got wet once and moved on. This is hardly a crime against humanity.
That anybody would boycott Strand is amazing to me. When that store goes, that is the definitive end of what south of 14th Street used to be. The people who are into boycotting Strand probably grew up in a far away suburb shopping at a mall Barnes and Noble. Homeless people don't have a right to sleep on the street,and naieve 22 year old female store employees from Iowa shouldn't have to deal with them being there when the store sets out its wares.
Maybe some post here is suggesting we stop shopping at Strand, but if so, I missed it. The only comments I've read that mention "boycott" were those against it. Is this a strawman?
Seems to me that almost everyone who thinks this is a bad way to treat the homeless is still a fan of the Strand. And sometimes, aren't we harder on those businesses we love, because we want them to be on the side of Right... because we're on their side and that would make us Right, too? We know the big guys aren't going to be, so we rarely ask them to.
But then, how do we get the Strand to deal with their problem differently?
No way anyone should be boycotting The Strand, as someone who has done lots of work with the homeless, when the Crusties take over a spot it's almost impossible to get the to leave.
Most homeless people don't set up camps with tons of backpacks and drooling dogs and sleeping bags and heroin addicted girlfriends, they keep moving around to avoid trouble, get food and money, and avoid becoming a target.
But Crusties take over and set up shop like they did at St Marks church a few years back and then ruin the whole space, commercial or not, for everyone.
I would urge Jeremiah to withdraw his call for a boycott and come up with a more constructive action, maybe he wants to start a Kickstarter for Crusties campaign so they can buy more heroin, or lobby the city to provide better homeless services.
Support The Strand, it is truly a place we don't want to ever see on Vanishing New York.
EV, I just retread the statement and Jeremiah is calling on people NOT to boycott the Strand but other businesses that use sweatshop labor etc. I was surprised he would have asked people to do that and apparently he is not. sorry for the misread and hope you update the post,. As fr me I'm heading to the Strand in my raincoat to buy a book about umbrellas, bye!
But the crusties are mostly from affluent families. If you take away their wake up service??? Oh the humanity! The humanity! lol
@ Giovanni
UGH! Sorry. Most unfortunate mistake on my behalf… I left out a crucial word… I just took the second part of my lead-in out for clarity….
I think we should boycott the Strand for not serving the Crusties finger sandwiches and champagne first thing in the morning!
But seriously, some Strand employee should have to deal with Camp Crust day after day and take the wrath and venom they spew? They've come after me at least a dozen times over the years just for making eye contact with them or refusing to give them money or cigarettes - I don't smoke! I can only imagine what they were doing to the Strand employees every morning.
"who use books in their perfunctory existence to pick-up girls or boys."
Ha! Yeah, that's certainly something new. People never did that before. Certainly not back in the '90s or the 80s or the 70s or in the 60s or the 50s or the 40s or the 30s or…..
Shameful. The most people homeless since the great depression. We do not have a homeless problem. We have a brotherhood problem. How ignoble shallow and weak to dowse the fallen. Souless.
Sprinklers, brilliant!! I'm having them installed for Santacon. Last year 9th Street was an open air urinal. I hope it's cold and their little fratty peckers freeze and fall off!
This is not the first time the Strand has done something questionable. Remember that OM yoga was housed upstairs on the 6th floor for years and years? Well, the Strand held their lease and would not renew it, because they preferred to lease to a corporate client who could pay more. OM is now closed. As a longtime patron of OM, I just shook my head when I found out the reason my beloved yoga studio was forced to close.
People, please THINK before you assume that the "little guy"/independent business always behaves ethically, or differently from a big corporate chain. This latest sprinkler nonsense is further evidence of this--and if any further confirmation were needed, just look at the partnership with Club Monaco.
It's absolutely ridiculous to rip the Strand apart over this. Yes. They fumbled the ball by speaking to the press without having a prepared answer as to why there are sprinklers installed and how they are used. The Strand could have made this a non story. But they screwed up. However for people to speculate, and all of these comments are speculation, is asinine. For all ANYONE knows not a single person ever got wet. There were multiple signs after all. The way people are carrying on about this, you make it sound like the Strand walked the homeless into Dr. Mengele's acid showers. Will you get a grip already?! Second, they have the right to partner with any business they like. Too BAD it doesn't meet your expectation of the type of company the Strand should do business with.
The hysterics surrounding this story is on par with the witch hysteria of Salem.
Jeremiah makes an interesting point. Those big companies do things orders of magnitude worse than what Strand is doing. I won't be boycotting the. However, that doesn't mean they don't deserve a lot of criticism for what they are doing.
As Anonymous at 12:18AM said, homeless levels in the city today are what they were during the depression (according to the Coalition for the Homeless).
The commenter 11/16 at 10:35AM also makes a great point. There's this worship of small business in this country when often times these businesses have horrible labor practices and are not the great panacea for how the economy is run and how workers are treated.
"The hysterics surrounding this story is on par with the witch hysteria of Salem."
You cannot be fucking serious.
I question the ethics of DNA Info, now DNA Info New York. Interesting how this sensational story coincides with their current rebranding and MTA ad campaign.
How did this story come to fruition? Did someone report the sprinklers to them? Seems they have been in place for a while now so why the sudden interest?
This all seems very contrived in an effort to get the website more readership.
@Big Brother : Yes of course, Strand and any business has the right to partner with any other business or entity they want to partner with.
That doesn't prevent me from deciding that I don't like what that business is doing to my community.
Freedom to choose works both ways, Bro'.
Internet outrage is so tired.
12:59 and 1:50, you made your donations to the Bowery Mission this year then, right?
www.bowery.org
To everyone saying the Strand was somehow "cruel" for installing sprinklers, what were they supposed to do? And why is it cruel? Unless these guys are the wicked witch of the west, a few drops of water isn't going to do any harm.
Big Brother, the Bowery Mission is a complete non sequitur. My point was that your previous statement is hysterical. No one has died here! Calm the hell down.
The Bowery Mission link is on point. For everyone pissing and moaning about how cruel they think the Strand is, take 5 seconds from your anonymous witch hunt and make a fucking donation to help the homeless.
So, if they put razor wire on the sidewalk would that be okay?
According to you people, feathers would be cruel as well.
Take the $50 youre not spending on your yoga class and donate it to a shelter.
Anon 10:07 p.m.: Having just checked back in with the comments and having posted the comment this morning about Om Yoga and the Strand, I can only infer that you are talking to me. As it happens, I do support causes that help the homeless, namely the Coalition for the Homeless in NY as well as Calvary Women's Services in DC because I used to live there, as well as SOME/Shalom House in DC, which also serves the homeless and at which my aunt--one of two aunts I have who are nuns--used to work. So please don't go making any assumptions about my life and choices. I stand by my statement that small and independent businesses--including the Strand--cannot be counted on to be ethical actors. It's naive to think otherwise.
How often did you offer to help these homeless people as you stepped over them on the way to yoga class?
Stop your flaming and attacking, 10:07 and 11:03 (same person I assume).
Wouldn't it have been easier for them to call the police than risk a PR nightmare?
if this happened over the summer why is dna info writing about in november?
Doing the bikram bop right over the homeless. You care!
"I'm not happy with the Strand-bashing that has come of this."
I agree. It's not worth boycotting or bashing the Strand over this but . . . damn, what a dumb mean thing to do. The Strand is problematic for all kinds of reasons--iffy, at best, employee treatment, for example--but, yes, it's one of the great independent bookstores in the world and worth supporting. FWIW, Strand Ask Us is quite critical of the Strand's management but it's done with love, IMO.
They need to contact the PR guy of the biscuit boys for damage control and go on a media blitz in Gothamist, Eater, NY Post, NBC, DNAinfo, Piers Morgan, Jerry Springer Show, Glenn Beck, Arsenio Hall, WNYC, MacNeil-Lehrer, Maury, Charlie Rose, Montel, and 700 Club. Their spiel would be that they're using sprinklers to clean the sidewalk for those who would be lining-up for their mouthwatering high quality food books and because of overwhelming demand, they need to hire a book bouncer since people would be reading on the sidewalk, and also people have been crying since they closed and wishing they were open 24 hours.
At least they're not torturing ducks to make fois gras butter!
I am definitely NOT calling for a boycott. Just the opposite!
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